Social security: The costs of retiring too soon
 

Thirty-eight million Americans rely on Social Security benefits in retirement.

Read the rest of the story.

You can't refute the statistics given in this presentation. However, the fact remains that the government wants people to hold off because they know the fund is going broke and as usual they are trying to kick the can down the road.

I agree the payout should be one consideration but it has trade offs. A person could wait until age 66 for more but the issue of morbidity and mortality come into play. Another factor is a person's attitude concerning retirement. some folks just don't want to retire.

Each person has to weigh their particular circumstance and the answer they arrive at is the right one for them

Social security
 

If you start collecting at 66 you will need to live to be 78.5 before you make up the payments you lost by not starting to collect at 62.I did not consider working between 62 and 66. Just another factor to consider when deciding when to start collecting.

Here is another view. Considers taking SS at 62 to prevent drawing down your savings:

Retirement at 62: Is Receiving Social Security Early Worth It?

"The examples provided here outline methods of analyzing the early-retirement decision. A simple analysis compares total expected lifetime benefits depending on whether a retiree chooses early retirement at age 62, normal retirement at age 66, or delayed retirement at age 70. A more realistic analysis compares retirees using early Social Security benefits to defer drawing down on retirement savings, allowing those savings to build for a longer period of time.

The analyses suggest that in all cases except for those with very low expected investment returns from individual retirement savings, it is economically beneficial for retirees to take Social Security benefits at age 62 and use these benefits to defer taking withdrawals from their retirement savings. Each retiree is unique, however, and all factors, including those affecting individual life expectancy, must be analyzed separately to determine the best choice."

Midvale: That is exactly how I viewed it as to opportunity costs lost

I was lucky. I listened to my wife and we both started to save as much as we could when we were working. That allowed us to retire at age 55. We have now been retired for 10 years. She took her SS benefit at age 62 and I will try and delay mine past my full retirement age of 66. I looked at the retirement problem differently then most analyst. I looked at it as a cash flow in, cash flow out based on the life style we wanted. One of the best pieces of information I read in the process was this: Look at what it takes to just live your life with the necessities and set up a guaranteed cash flow to cover those expenses. Then no matter what the market does you will have money to survive. This is what I did first. The second best piece of advice I read was: Your money does not take care of itself. You have to be proactive when it comes to your investments. I made sure I was well educated on where and how to invest. Some people let some one else manage their funds I preferred to do the management my self. So far the strategy has worked well for me. The last piece of advice was: Make a budget and analyze where you spend your money. If you do not know where your bleeding cash you can't fix it.

Took mine at 62 and put every penny of it to reduce the principle on my mortgage. I paid off a 15 year mortgage in seven years. The interest I saved more than offset the reduction for not waiting until I reached maximum retirement age. The choice for each of us is situation driven.

Whether to take you SS at either 62 or 66 is basically a gamble. You are betting on how long you'll live. If you wait until 66 and die at age 65 you lose in more ways than one. If you take it at age 62 and live to be 100, you'll get less money than if you waited until age 66.

Taking it earlier is a more conservative gamble. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush so to speak.

But everyone has to decide for themselves and factors such as your health, what you can do with the money gotten earlier, your other retirement benefits and others should help you make a decision. Either way is a gamble.

You also have to consider if one spouse continues to work and the SS income is taxed at their rate. I will wait to begin collecting SS until my husband retires and the tax rate will be significantly reduced.

Dr.Boogie IS a very wise thinker.
In My Humble Opinion..........................TAKE IT EARLY.......

I quit working at age 48 in 2002 and now at 60 will take it at 62 or maybe a little later but not at 66.
Don't need it but I paid into it for 30 years and every little bit counts.
Heck I've waited 12 years so far. I'm ready.
Retire as soon as you can.

We aren't taking any chances of waiting until 66. Were out at 62. Yes, were going to get less money but we saved for many years so we could retire earlier.

I'm with you. I just signed up at 62. If someone would give me a guarantee that the rules won't change in the next four years I would consider waiting. But I have already been down this road. In 2008 when the market went south the my company changed the my pension rules. Had it in writing that the company was to pay my supplemental health insurance after Medicare for life. They reneged. We retirees sued and lost. I'll never count on two in the bush again.

I am 61 will be 62 in September and plan on taking it then. We are more than comfortable now but I watched my parents, they were more than comfortable also. They retired at 57, lived a good life, did what they wanted, were in good health. When they turned 80 they still had pretty good health and money was not a problem they just did not have the desire to do much, not that they were not happy, they were. Just did not feel like spending the money, didn't feel like traveling much any more, would rather stay home than go out. So we are taking SS ASAP spending it while we feel like it, both our parents lived past 85 so we have a good chance at 80 plus. Our next big plan is to do a 4 month world cruise before we are 70 and SS will help that.

SS
 

Good idea.This alternative should be consider when making a decision.

I think the point of the discussion is that we should not follow our bias but workout the numbers and maybe that includes getting some professional advice.

I retired at 50 and have never counted on SS to support me in my retirement

I didn't have a choice. Went on SS Disability at 59. I'm comfortable with that ,although, my back isn't.